BUFFALO, NY– Siena Swimming & Diving saw three freshman finish inside the top-16 in their events to advance to MAAC Championship Final heats in day 2 of the conference's annual postseason met in Buffalo, NY.
Overall, the Saints moved up two spots to finish the first full day of competition in eighth place out of 10 teams with 76 points.
The day's preliminary events kicked off with a pair of newcomers advancing in the 500 free, with Reilly King (5:07.58) and Lauren Ostrander (5:12.68) placing sixth and 11th, respectively with personal bests. Both rookies went on to re-set career marks in the finals that evening, with King recording the team's first All-MAAC finish of the night with a fifth place result in the "A" final (5:07.47) and Ostrander placing second in the "B" heat (5:08.14) to finish 10th overall in the event.
Elsewhere, senior Carrie Bonvissuto placed 17th in the preliminary heat with a season best time of 5:14.40, while sophomore Isabel Harms (5:19.38), junior Sydney Lautenslager (5:22.15) and senior Katelyn Ludwicki (5:25.38) followed.
Kicking off the first of potentially three trips to a MAAC Final heat, freshman Jessica Shine advanced in the 200 individual medley by 12 hundredths of a second, swimming 2:10.44 to notch a personal mark by three seconds and place 16th in the prelim. The Buffalo native would finish 14th overall in the final, improving on her time to 2:10.01 the during second go-around.
Joining Siena in competing in the 200 IM was sophomore Sarah Duggan (2:15.41) and Senior Larissa Nanna (2:16.50), who each improved from their seed times.
The final individual event of the day proved to also be the most competitive, with Siena's swimmers coming narrowly close to making the cut in the 50-yard freestyle. Freshman Rory Kalac led the pack by finishing 19th in the preliminary round with a personal best time of 24.70, while Senior Alyssa Lewis improved her time to 25.18. Classmate Rachel Brown posted a 25.32, while freshman Ellie Murphy went for a personal-best 26.09. Junior Shannon Leary (26.68) and freshman Sydney Murinka (27.40) rounded out the Green and Gold swimmers to take part in the event.
The Saints rounded out the night be placing eighth in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the group of Shine, Lewis, Kalac and Brown improving their seed time just over a second to 1:39.08.
Siena is back in action at the Burt Flickinger Center Pool on the campus of Erie Community College for day three of the 2020 MAAC Championships Friday at 10 AM.
